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Dietary Constraints And Strategies In The Red-Bellied Lemur (Eulemur Rubriventer), And Their Implications For Conservation, Amanda Marie Du Bour

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Understanding the diet of the vulnerable red-bellied lemur ( Eulemur rubriventer) is essential for preventing its extinction. Previous E. rubriventer research focused on populations in Ranomafana National Park, located in the southeast part of the island, making research in other forest locations a priority for the understanding of dietary breadth and constraints in this species. My research questions consider whether protein is the nutritional driver for foraging choices in E. rubriventer, how fiber influences cathemeral activity, and seasonal variability in day and night time dietary items. My research team and I identified the plant and animal species that composed a …

Does Excluding A Top Mesopredator Induce A Trophic Cascade : Effects And Diet Of An Omnivorous Predator In A Restored Prairie, Kirstie Savage

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Predators can shape prey communities through consumptive and non-consumptive interactions. By inducing fear of predation, predators can cause changes to prey foraging behavior that can negatively impact prey reproduction and body-condition. Furthermore, both consumptive (density-mediated) and non-consumptive (trait-mediated) predator-prey interactions can cascade down the food web to have indirect impacts of vegetation (trophic cascade). As we continue to lose apex predators and undergo land change, understanding how the new top dogs shape prey communities and restorations is increasingly important. Through utilizing predator-exclosure fences, mark-recapture analysis, plant biomass and stable isotopes we evaluated the role of coyotes as top mesopredator in …

Comparing Relaxation Versus Mastery Micro-Break Activity : A Within-Task Recovery Perspective, Amanda Lynn Conlin

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Recovery from work is thought to occur outside of the workplace. However, employees may have the opportunity to recover within the work day via micro-breaks, or short momentary breaks during demanding work tasks. Two strategies for mitigating fatigue include psychological detachment and replenishing motivational incentives via positive affect. This study examined whether recovery was possible during a work task and to what extent different break content facilitated later performance. In an experimental study, 201 students were randomly assigned to receiving a relaxation micro-break (n = 63), a mastery micro-break (n = 68), or no break (n = 72) in the …

Role Of Colony Integration In Metabolic Scaling Of Colonial Animals, Maram Almegbel

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Metabolism, one of the canonical features of life, shows a clear correlation to organismal size. Metabolic scaling is explaining the relationship between organism body mass and metabolic rate. To explain the relationship between the metabolism and body size, several factors have to be examined including resource uptake, usage, and transportation of resources throughout the body. Empirically, metabolism usually scales as approximately mass to the ¾ power. Many theories seek to explain this relationship in terms of surface area to volume. These theories typically model unitary organisms as spheres, with surface area to volume increasing as roughly volume to the 2/3 …

Rousseau's Plutarchism, Nathan Richard Mccormick

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Jean-Jacques Rousseau gives Plutarch's Parallel Lives a prominent role in his treatise on education, Emile. In many ways, this decision is perplexing because Plutarch's teachings concerning virtue and vice seem to pose a direct threat to Rousseau's educational regimen which aims to produce a natural, whole, and sincere man. However, upon closer examination, there is evidence that suggests that Rousseau fully recognizes how Plutarch's writings can threaten his program, which leads him to institute several innovative changes to how the Parallel Lives is administered in the Emile. Namely, the natural man is only allowed to be exposed to a few, …

System Of Indebtedness : Experiences With Wage Garnishment In Chicago, 1957-1970, J. Marcos Reynolds

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Rising indebtedness, bankruptcies, and job losses were all part of the working-class experience with wage garnishment, the major debt collection system during the last century. Garnishment was a powerful legal institution used by creditors to access workers' wages before they received their paycheck, and it gave the creditor a great deal of power during the loan repayment period, because the borrower had few legal options after signing their wages away. When used, it drained workers' incomes and hurt their future job prospects. This dissertation focuses on wage garnishment as a system of indebtedness, and analyzes the way these predatory lines …

Reduction Of Ketones To Alcohols And Tertiary Amines Using 1-Hydrosilatrane, Sami E. Varjosaari

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

1-Hydrosilatrane is an easily synthesized, stable, solid silane which can be made into an efficient reducing agent in the presence of a Lewis base, by taking advantage of the properties of hypervalent silicon. Due to the simplicity of use and handling, 1-hydrosilatrane has the potential to be an appealing alternative to other more widely used reducing agents. Aromatic and aliphatic ketones were readily reduced with 1-hydrosilatrane in the presence of potassium tert-butoxide. The discovery of diastereoselectivity in the reduction of menthone, a chiral ketone, led to enantioselective reductions of prochiral ketones using chiral Lewis base activators. Enantiomeric excesses of up …

Examining Cross-Lagged Relations Between Behavioral Inhibition And Inhibitory Control During Early Childhood : Predicting Subsequent Internalizing And Externalizing Problems, Jacob Benjamin Holzman

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Prior research has demonstrated that the early childhood developmental period is an important time period to study the emergence and development of temperament characteristics, including behavioral inhibition and inhibitory control, as well as factors that influence such characteristics. In particular, previous research has suggested that behavioral inhibition may facilitate the development of inhibitory control due to behavioral inhibition emerging earlier than inhibitory control and sharing behavioral features (i.e., inhibition). Although previous studies have examined relations between behavioral inhibition and inhibitory control, limited research has examined such relations during the emergence of inhibitory control or by utilizing multiple methodologies (i.e., observation …

Tugging At Time : The Role Of Temporal Processing In The Organization Of String-Pulling, Ashley Blackwell

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Time perception is one of the most influential cognitive capacities shared across animal species. Interval timing, occurring in the range of seconds to minutes, dictates actions to events experienced in the environment. Operant conditioning techniques have traditionally been used to assess interval timing which relies heavily on extensive training. There may be alternative techniques to investigate processing of temporal information, including exploring the organization of animal's repertoire of spontaneously occurring behaviors. String-pulling behavior in rats may be an alternative way to provide a novel approach to investigate time perception in rodents. The current set of studies evaluates the effects of …

The Space-Time Continuum : Examining The Cortical Contributions To Spatial And Temporal Processing, Philip A. Blankenship

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Spatial and temporal processing are critical for an animal's survival. Many neurological disorders are associated with disruptions of these processes. Converging lines of evidence have suggested that these processes are mediated by a cortico-striatal network of structures. Limited research has investigated the role of the medial agranular cortex (AGm) and posterior parietal cortex (PPC) in relation to their overlap in spatial and temporal processing. The current study evaluated the roles of the AGm and PPC in spatial processing and interval timing. Long-Evans rats received unilateral devascularization of either the left hemisphere AGm or PPC followed by testing in the Morris …

Carry-On Luggage, Jack Frazer

Mighty Pen Project Anthology & Archive

A soldier comes home from Vietnam, measuring his life by what he brings home in his pockets and duffel from the war.

Articles, stories, and other compositions in this archive were written by participants in the Mighty Pen Project. The program, developed by author David L. Robbins, and in partnership with Virginia Commonwealth University and the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond, Virginia, offers veterans and their family members a customized twelve-week writing class, free of charge. The program encourages, supports, and assists participants in sharing their stories and experiences of military experience so both writer and audience may benefit.

Button, Chris Knaggs

Mighty Pen Project Anthology & Archive

A veteran volunteer at the Virginia War Memorial tries to strike up a dialogue with a young, angry protester, and learns a hard lesson about the grief of others.

Articles, stories, and other compositions in this archive were written by participants in the Mighty Pen Project. The program, developed by author David L. Robbins, and in partnership with Virginia Commonwealth University and the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond, Virginia, offers veterans and their family members a customized twelve-week writing class, free of charge. The program encourages, supports, and assists participants in sharing their stories and experiences of military experience so …

Gait Of Power, David Aldridge

Mighty Pen Project Anthology & Archive

A soldier in Vietnam experiences something beyond the normal when he covers his squad during retreat from a firefight.

Articles, stories, and other compositions in this archive were written by participants in the Mighty Pen Project. The program, developed by author David L. Robbins, and in partnership with Virginia Commonwealth University and the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond, Virginia, offers veterans and their family members a customized twelve-week writing class, free of charge. The program encourages, supports, and assists participants in sharing their stories and experiences of military experience so both writer and audience may benefit.

The Rtfa Gene Regulates Plant And Animal Pathogenesis And Secondary Metabolism In Aspergillus Flavus, Jessica Michelle Lohmar

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Aspergillus flavus is an opportunistic fungal plant and human pathogen and producer of mycotoxins including aflatoxin B1 (AFB1). As part of our ongoing studies to elucidate biological functions of the A. flavus rtfA gene, we examined its role in pathogenicity of both plant and animal model systems. rtfA encodes a putative RNA-Pol II transcription elongation factor, previously characterized in Saccharomycese cerevisiae, Aspergillus nidulans, Aspergillus fumigatus, where it was shown to regulate several important cellular processes, including morphogenesis, secondary metabolism. In addition, an initial study in A. flavus indicated that rtfA also influences development and production of AFB1, however its effect …

Effects Of Task Goals On Processing Causal Explanations In Science Texts, Kathryn E. Rupp

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Previous research has shown that students experience difficulty understanding scientific texts that explain physical systems (e.g., how coral bleaching occurs; how speakers work). Explanatory texts about physical systems depict causally connected components and events that change across time and space. Readers incrementally build a mental representation of the system often called a mental model. The primary goal of the present experiment was to explore the possibility that one reason why explanatory texts are difficult to comprehend is that students adopt reading goals that do not facilitate the construction of a coherent mental model of the explanation. In the present experiment, …

Event Segmentation And Expertise, Daniel P. Feller

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Events are composed of component parts (i.e., sub-events) and humans naturally recognize shifts between events and sub-events. The process of chunking continuous spatiotemporal information into meaningful discrete parts during encoding is known as event segmentation. Research suggests that segmentation is driven by perceptual change, in a bottom-up fashion, rather than by background knowledge, in a top-down fashion. However, much of the previous work has focused on segmentation in contexts where there is likely to be minimal variation in one's level of background knowledge (e.g., washing the dishes). The goal of the present study was to explore the extent to which …

Modulation Of Oxidative Stress In The Retinal Pigment Epithelium By Endogenous Pigmentation And Accessible Therapeutics, Sally M. Yacout

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Age-related changes to endogenous pigments in the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) are thought to significantly contribute to the etiology and progression of retinal diseases, such as Age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The research in this dissertation studies the modulation of oxidative stress by melanin and the efficacy of accessible therapeutics in attenuating damage to the RPE. Structural and functional characteristics of RPE melanin were studied, including age-related changes in donor melanin. Young melanin provides significant protection to photo-stressed RPE cells, while aged human donor melanin is capable of pro-oxidant behavior in cells. Structural characterization of aged human donor melanin suggests oxidative …

Carbon Quantum Dots: Bridging The Gap Between Chemical Structure And Material Properties, Timothy J. Pillar-Little Jr.

Theses and Dissertations--Chemistry

Carbon quantum dots (CQDs) are the latest generation of carbon nanomaterials in applications where fullerenes, carbon nanotubes, and graphene are abundantly used. With several attractive properties such as tunable optical property, edge-functionalization, and defect-rich chemical structure, CQDs have the potential to revolutionize optoelectronics, electro- and photocatalysis, and biomedical applications. Chemical modifications through the addition of heteroatoms, chemical reduction, and surface passivation are found to alter the band gap, spectral position, and emission pathways of CQDs. Despite extensive studies, fundamental understanding of structure-property relationship remains unclear due to the inhomogeneity in chemical structure and a complex emission mechanism for CQDs.

This …

Study Of The Mechanism Of Action For Ru(Ii) Polypyridyl Complexes As Potential Anticancer Agents, Yang Sun

Theses and Dissertations--Chemistry

Application of chemotherapeutic agents in current cancer treatment has been limited by adverse effects as poor selectivity results in systemic toxicity; most chemotherapy approaches also experience inherited or acquired drug resistance which lead to reduced treatment outcome. Research efforts have focused on the discovery of novel chemotherapies that overcome the limitations mentioned above. Ru(II) polypyridyl complexes with anti-cancer properties have been extensively studied as traditional cytotoxic agents and photodynamic therapy agents due to their photophysical and photochemical characteristics.

Most research has focused on the design of Ru(II) polypyridyl complexes that have affinities to nucleic acids as inspired by the classic …

Catalytic Conversion Of Monosaccharides Into 5-(Hydroxymethyl)Furfural In Ionic Liquids Using Aluminum Complexes Bearing Bidentate (Aminomethyl)Phenolate Ligands, Daudi Sayialel Saang'onyo

Theses and Dissertations--Chemistry

Currently, the major sources of fuel, energy, and chemicals are nonrenewable fossil resources such as petroleum, natural gas, and coal. Additionally, petroleum is used for the production of most transportation fuels and for the production of about 95% of organic chemicals. However, the production and use of non-renewable fossil fuels are unsustainable. For economic and environmental sustainability, there is a need to search for new and/or renewable resources and technologies for energy, fuels, and chemicals production that have the potential of effectively substituting fossil resources. In this context, lignocellulosic biomass is one of the candidates that meet these requirements due …

Heterogeneous Catalytic Deoxygenation Of Lipids To Fuel-Like Hydrocarbons Over Improved Bimetallic Nickel Catalysts, Ryan Andrew Loe

Theses and Dissertations--Chemistry

Diminishing petroleum reserves and environmental considerations have strengthened the demand for developing renewable fuel technologies. One alternative is deoxygenating plant oils, animal fats, and waste lipid streams to fuel-like hydrocarbons. These fuels offer a drop-in replacement to petroleum products while potentially becoming carbon neutral, satisfying both fuel and environmental concerns. This fuel is obtained through catalytic deoxygenation via either hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) or decarboxylation/ decarbonylation (deCO_x). HDO requires problematic sulfided catalysts and extreme hydrogen pressures to convert lipids to fuel-like hydrocarbons. Therefore, this work focuses on the deCO_x pathway, where hydrogen is not required for deoxygenation to take …

Oprah Winfrey And Shonda Rhimes : Changing The Faces And Stories On Contemporary American Television, Caprice Butts

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This thesis will explore the history of Black women in television beginning with the start of Black women being on air and to the present. It will investigate the politics and education of Black women to tie into both the history of Oprah Winfrey and Shonda Rhimes to make connections on how these factors had an impact on their professional careers and storytelling and conclude that, while the background of television with Black women and individual lives of these two women have made differences in the world of Hollywood, there is still much that needs to be done. It will …

Reproductive Promiscuity In The Variegated Fairy-Wren: An Alternative Reproductive Strategy In The Absence Of Helpers?, Allison E. Johnson, Stephen Pruett-Jones

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Cooperative breeding, in which auxiliary group members help rear related, but nondescendent young, is often explained by kin selection. Reproductive monogamy is predicted in cooperatively breeding systems, as monogamy increases intragroup relatedness and maximizes auxiliary inclusive fitness. While monogamy is observed across many systems, including eusocial insects and cooperatively breeding mammals, some cooperatively breeding birds exhibit high rates of extrapair paternity. Here we quantify paternity and examine the role of auxiliaries on extrapair paternity in the highly cooperative variegated fairy-wren, Malurus lamberti, a species with both male and female auxiliaries. Extrapair paternity occurred in 55.4% of nests, and 39.8% …

Agri 115: Biotechnology – Food, Health And Environment, A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Leah Sandall

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

No abstract provided.

Adpr 333-001: Design And Layout--A Peer Review Of Teaching Portfolio, Octavio Kano-Galvan

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

No abstract provided.

Stat 380: Statistics And Applications, Yumou Qiu

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This portfolio prepares for the introduction level undergraduate statistic course (Stat 380) for the students with calculus background, which includes the course goals, contents as well as teaching methods for large session classes. Analysis and evaluation of student learning are also included. In-class activities and discussion helping students’ engagement are introduced. The homework is assigned by Canvas, which summaries the students’ solution and provides analysis for each student.

Traditional Jurisprudence And Protection Of Our Society: A Jurisgenerative Tail, Gregory H. Bigler

American Indian Law Review

No abstract provided.

Expanding And Refining Christian Interpretations Of Rāmānuja, John B. Carman

Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies

In the last century there has been a remarkable expansion of studies of Rāmānuja by scholars outside the Śrīvaiṣṇava community. This paper concentrates on the contributions of some Christian scholars. Many of the earlier studies focused on Rāmānuja’s opposition to Śaṇkara’s interpretation of the Vedanta, with Roman Catholic scholars tending to favor Śaṇkara and Protestant scholars Rāmānuja. The Belgian Jesuit Pierre Johanns argued for a Christian reinterpretation of the Vedanta that would merge the truths in the different Hindu schools, giving primary importance to Śaṇkara, but modifying the Hindu teaching through the distinctive Christian doctrine of “creation out of nothing.” …

Bigheaded Carp Reproduction In Large River Tributaries With Evaluation Of Sampling Gear Performance, Daniel R. Roth

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Impact Of Temperature Increase On Freshwater Fish Species: Energetics And Muscle Mechanics Of Two Centrarchids, Israt Jahan

Masters Theses

Fishes have evolved physiologically to live within a specific range of environmental variation and existence outside of that range can be stressful or fatal. These ranges can coincide for fishes that evolved in similar habitats. This study investigates physiological processes limiting thermal tolerance, specifically how changes in water temperature affect the swimming energetics and muscle mechanics in largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) and bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus). I focused on the impact of temperature change at the muscle level in these two species and the capacity to adapt to rapid changes in the environment. Fish were housed at …